Preview — The Compassion Box
by Pema Chödrön

The Compassion Box: Book, CD, and Card Deck

For many centuries Tibetan Buddhists have used a traditional collection of pithy, penetrating slogans to help them develop equanimity, intelligence, and compassion amid the turbulence of daily life. This boxed set presents all the tools needed to learn this transformative practice (called lojong in Tibetan), presented in Pema's accessible, down-to-earth style.

The CompassiFor many centuries Tibetan Buddhists have used a traditional collection of pithy, penetrating slogans to help them develop equanimity, intelligence, and compassion amid the turbulence of daily life. This boxed set presents all the tools needed to learn this transformative practice (called lojong in Tibetan), presented in Pema's accessible, down-to-earth style.

The Compassion Box contains a set of finely produced cards presenting fifty-nine powerful maxims, including "Don't be swayed by external circumstances," "Don't be so predictable," and "Be grateful to everyone." The cards can be displayed at work or home for guidance and inspiration throughout the day. On the reverse side of each card Pema offers new, illuminating, and inspiring commentary on how to understand and apply the maxims.

The Compassion Box includes:

• 59 two-color cards, with a Buddhist slogan on one side and original commentary by Pema Chödrön on the other

• Guided instructions on how to use the cards as part of a daily spiritual practice

• A fold-out card stand

• A 288-page paperback, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living, a popular guide to understanding and applying the slogans

• A 45-minute audio CD of Pema Chödrön offering in-depth instruction on tonglen meditation ("taking in and sending out"), a powerful practice that anyone can undertake to awaken the heart...more

Ani Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, closely associated with the Kagyu school and the Shambhala lineage.

She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and three gAni Pema Chödrön (Deirdre Blomfield-Brown) is an American Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition, closely associated with the Kagyu school and the Shambhala lineage.

She attended Miss Porter's School in Connecticut and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. She taught as an elementary school teacher for many years in both New Mexico and California. Pema has two children and three grandchildren.

While in her mid-thirties, she traveled to the French Alps and encountered Lama Chime Rinpoche, with whom she studied for several years. She became a novice nun in 1974 while studying with Lama Chime in London. His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa came to England at that time, and Ani Pema received her ordination from him.

Ani Pema first met her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, in 1972. Lama Chime encouraged her to work with Trungpa, and it was with him that she ultimately made her most profound connection, studying with him from 1974 until his death in 1987. At the request of the Sixteenth Karmapa, she received the full bikshuni ordination in the Chinese lineage of Buddhism in 1981 in Hong Kong.

Ani Pema served as the director of the Karma Dzong, in Boulder, CO, until moving in 1984 to rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to be the director of Gampo Abbey. Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche gave her explicit instructions on establishing this monastery for western monks and nuns.